A/N: I only own the plot and the original characters. (Everything that doesn't belong to me belongs to someone else.) This chapter, I'm starting to bring up the Thieves' Guild; terms you may not know will be at the bottom, after the chapter.

Please read and review— know that I appreciate all of your comments and that any constructive criticism will be taken very gratefully. 3

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When Henri got back home from visiting Mercy's family on Saturday afternoon, he found his cousins Theoren and Etienne Marceaux saying goodbye to his father.

Jean-Luc was clearly pleased, but Henri's furrowed eyebrows were enough to wipe his father's face of any emotion. A curt nod for his son, and Jean-Luc LeBeau, patriarch of the New Orleans Thieves' Guild, disappeared back upstairs.

Sometimes, Henri mused, he didn't really want to know.

Then again, when it involved his 15-year old cousin doing his tilling with Remy as supervisor, he definitely did want to know.

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"You're d' one who beat Remy at cards, non?"

It was Sunday, and both the Thibeau and Marceaux families were over for a family dinner. Tante Mattie had put Marie next to Etienne, which made Remy want to bang his head against a wall. Etienne was just so goddamn cheerful. He made Marie seem like a zombie.

"He beats me sometimes."

Marie peered at the shrimp speared on her fork before taking a bite. Etienne was smiling at her even as she ignored him. Eventually she looked up at him, put her fork down, and sat back in her chair.

"Yes?"

"You must be pretty good, den, hein?"

She shrugged, and across the table Remy rolled his eyes. Immediately Marie and Etienne snapped their heads to look at him, identical glares on their faces.

Remy couldn't help it.

He laughed.

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Later, Etienne and Marie relaxed on the couches in the basement.

Well, Etienne relaxed. Marie just sat tensely in a relaxed position.

She liked Etienne. Or at least, she liked that while he was annoyingly cheerful, he was also extremely observant.

Remy was like that, too, and Henri as well. Actually, the entire family, except maybe Mrs. LeBeau, had noticed that she saw everything. Remy, she expected it from. She had a feeling most mutants saw what was going on around them. She'd always thought that.

But from the others? No. It wasn't normal. Wasn't right.

And Etienne— he was her age, and cheerful. Why did he notice things like she did?

So she asked him, and while he was checking his phone for messages, he told her.

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It sounded pretty ridiculous.

Thieves' Guild? Tilling? It made Marie's head spin.

But it made sense, in a sick sort of way. It explained just about everything, from the way Remy casually spun coins between his fingers to the way he stepped more quietly than a feline.

Etienne was spinning a coin between his fingers, too. A silver dollar that glinted every 180 degrees and made Marie almost blink every time.

She realized Etienne had started talking again.

"We have enemies, y' know."

This sounds like a pirate movie.

"De Assassins' Guild. But we got a truce goin'. An intermarriage."

"Who's getting married?"

It has to be Remy.

"Remy. He's gettin' married to Bella Donna Boudreaux, d' assassin princess. Some of us call her champignon. Mushroom."

"Not to her face, I imagine."

"Mais non." Etienne smiled. "She's belle, mais..."

"She's a killer?"

"Oui. It's hard to like an assassin."

"And Remy doesn't love her." At Etienne's questioning look, she added, "He couldn't. He never mentioned her to me, and we've been talking a lot."

"Dat's not how love works, Marie." Etienne tossed her the coin; she caught it easily.

"Isn't it?"

"No 'fense, mais you're just Mercy's sister. Why would 'e tell you?"

Marie bristled.

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On the ride back to Destrehan, Marie watched out the window towards the setting sun. They'd been at the LeBeau's for a long time, and her parents were talking quietly about them in the front.

Marie mostly ignored them, only listening in if they mentioned Remy or Etienne, which didn't happen much on the half-hour drive back home. Her mother had mentioned Remy was handsome, her father that Etienne seemed like a smart kid.

They don't notice anything.

She'd become increasingly aware of how blind her parents were now that she was interacting on a semi-regular basis with Remy. And now, with having met another person her age with the same perceptiveness, it was even more apparent.

She'd exchanged e-mails with Etienne, and she had a feeling they'd be talking quite a bit. She had noticed the serious lack of girls in Remy's family, and even though she was a far cry from a normal teenage girl, something was better than nothing.

Besides, Etienne was hardly normal for a boy his age. He was about to be inaugurated into a Thieves' Guild, for goodness sake. That wasn't normal.

Marie smiled a quirky little smile as she realized she was suddenly jealous of Mercy. Mercy, who would have unlimited access to all these abnormal people and probably wouldn't even realize how lucky she was until it was too late.

She suddenly remembered a quick, soft smile Etienne had sent her way at dinner and her smile widened.

Maybe it's not too late for me.

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A/N: A tilling is a test/ceremony that marks a young thief's induction and consecration into the Thieves' Guild. If you have any other questions, you can either look it up or ask. :3 Thanks again, and please review!